Texas Instruments to Occupy Fmr. AOL Dev and Saves Buildings in TUC.

Just wanted to let you know that Texas Instruments will be the new tenants of the buildings previously built for AOL Development and Saves departments in Tucson, AZ. The buildings are located at the Williams Circle (5400 E block of Broadway and Craycroft).

During AOL’s time there, 5401 building was occupied by AOL’s Beta, QA, customer escalation and additional higher-tier technical consultant teams before they were ‘transitioned’ [laid off] in December 2007 from the Dulles, VA based company.

The building has been empty since about February 2008. Since the downsizing, Sources close to the matter tell me that AOL has transitioned a handful of employees to be working from home and are independently contracted to perform services for AOL.

The 5421 building has been the bane of all existence for AOL — Saves. When you called and canceled an AOL account, you may have spoken to agents out of that building, Ogden, UT or Tampa, FL.

In this building, aggressive sales practices (from creative to down-right illegal), people developed mental illness and people rolled in a ton of money — for some, six-figures! It was alleged that the person who refused to cancel Vincent Ferrari’s account was working out of the Tucson Saves call center, “John.”

(Currently, AOL retention is likely still present in Ogden, UT based on my own test of contacting them, as well as global outsourcing present in India and Philippines.)

Let us pray that Texas Instruments won’t haunt Tucson the way AOL has. Regardless of the former tenants, these buildings are nice. They seriously need new carpet and office furniture. Parking is perfect for the capacity, location is central to most employees (sans West side), has a decent security system installed (RFID and color cameras everywhere) and an array of amenities around the property.